A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence

by Jeff Hawkins

What about destroying an intelligent machine when it is unplugged, or just never plugging it in again? Wouldn’t that be akin to murdering a person while they are asleep? Not really. Our fear of death is created by the older parts of our brain. If we detect a life-threatening situation, then the old brain creates the sensation of fear and we start acting in more reflexive ways. When we lose someone close to us, we mourn and feel sad. Fears and emotions are created by neurons in the old brain when they release hormones and other chemicals into the body. The neocortex may help the old brain decide when to release these chemicals, but without the old brain we would not sense fear or sadness. Fear of death and sorrow for loss are not required ingredients for a machine to be conscious or intelligent. Unless we go out of our way to give machines equivalent fears and emotions, they will not care at all if they are shut down, disassembled, or scrapped.